1. Description of the Prior Art
The invention relates generally to sports, and in particular relates to a practice aid, whereby one is enabled to practice the game of tennis alone, under realistic conditions which simulate closely an actual game in which opponents face each other across a net upon a tennis court of standard dimensions.
Heretofore, it has been proposed to provide backboards, and various aids of this type, whereby one can practice his or her tennis strokes and foot work. However, normally a backboard is no more than a blank, painted wall. This detracts considerably from the realism of the practice situation, and as a result, the interest of the player is difficult to sustain during a practice session. In addition, no real target is presented by conventional backboards, so that there is no incentive during the practice session, for the user to attempt to hit the ball to the target or, for that matter, away from the target as would be true in an actual tennis match. The prior art, thus, has so far as is known failed to suggest a backboard concept in which visual imagery is realistically incorporated, together with ball rebounding capability wholly consistent with the physical experience engendered by an actual tennis match in which opponent is pitted against opponent at opposite sides of the net of a wholly conventional court.
2. Summary of the Invention
Summarized briefly, the present invention includes a backboard structure, which in some instances may be made portable, so as to be movable into place across an actual tennis court, at mid court. The backboard in a preferred embodiment comprises an upright structure, which in height is dimensioned so as to assure that most practice strokes, except those which are badly mis-hit, will produce rebounding of the ball so that the players practice will be interrupted to a minimum extent.
In accordance with the invention, the backboard includes, preferably, a backing panel which may be opaque, and which is suitably reinforced by a support frame for the purpose of offering maximum rigidity and optimum rebounding characteristics. In the disclosed embodiment, the backboard is also provided with a front panel, overlying the entire area of and laminated with the backing panel. The front panel is transparent, and may be a highly impact resistant acrylic resin such as, for example, the product sold under the trademark "Plexiglas" by Rohm and Haas Co., Bristol, Pa. The front panel is reflectively surfaced, and overlying the reflective surface is the simulation of a tennis net, having interstices through which the reflective surface appears. An exceedingly faithful simulation of a complete tennis court is thus afforded to the user, by reason of the reflective surface and the net simulation, in that the player observes his or her own image in the reflective surface, and indeed observes the image below the top of the net, through the interstices of the net, exactly as an opponent would appear to a player in an actual playing situation.
It is proposed that in some instances, the reflective surface, while being maintained in a properly vertical position so as to reflect the player's image directly back to the player, may be in association with a rebounding surface which is inclined slightly from the horizontal, so as to impart a rebounding trajectory to the ball that will simulate more closely that which would be expected when an opponent returns the ball to a player over the net.